AMERICAN IDOL: Thousands of auditioners line up for thier chance to become the next AMERICAN IDOL at the New Orleans Arena in New Orleans, LA. Tuesday, July 17 . / William Widner/FOX

by Brian Mansfield, USA TODAY

by Brian Mansfield, USA TODAY

Tonight, American Idol heads to the land of Randy Jackson. Is there any more talent there? Stick around for a live blog of tonight's show.

Burnell Taylor is 'Here' to stay: Burnell Taylor grew up in a musical singer, but he didn't really start singing until after Hurricane Katrina, when his family relocated to Baton Rouge.

Didn't expect him to pick I'm Here from The Color Purple, but after the introduction the show gave him I sure expected him to sing like that -- and it's the most powerful performance we've seen so far this season.

"That's Louisiana!" Randy exclaims as the judges give him a standing ovation. "See?" Keith Urban's jaw is on the desk. Mariah Carey is in tears.

Nicki Minaj nails it: "That's what we came for. I feel like we've been flying all around this country for that. ... Everybody else auditioned. You just entertained us."

***

They call him The Fireman: Well, before the commercial break, we got a trio of fine female singers. Now the pendulum swings in the other direction.

Maybe Baton Rouge fireman Dustin Watts can change the temperature of the room. He certainly gets Nicki Minaj a little hotter: "You got a girlfriend?" she asks. And his rendition of Garth Brooks' She's Every Woman has plenty of baritone warmth and confidence, too.

So now Season 12 has its resident country hunk.

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Dangerous Mushroom: Christopher Barthel has an alter ego for his performing side, but he doesn't have a name for it yet. So, of course, he asks Nicki, who has given everybody else a nickname.

"Mushroom."

"Mushroom" is going to perform Adam Lambert's If I Had You. I'm glad he told us beforehand, because I wouldn't have recognized it. Even with the dance moves.

Keith Urban thinks he's a fun guy but says that singing's not his thing. Nicki, however, wants to run her hand through his blond hair. "When I wear my blanket, I have special powers," she says. Mariah rolls her eyes.

Next up: Dr. Calvin Peters, who's in the third year of his medical residency. So you know that work ethic and long hours aren't going to be an issue if he gets to Hollywood. He brings some falsetto to his rendition of Maxwell's Wherever Whenever Whatever. Mariah Carey thinks he's handsome and that it's unique that he's a singing doctor, so she likes him a lot. Keith Urban thinks he's brave to take on Maxwell, and Nicki Minaj thinks he's got better technique than a lot of singers they've sent to Hollywood.

It'll be interesting to see how this guy fares with the less mature singers in Hollywood.

After Peters, several women get through, including Michelle Montezeri, Breanna Steer, Brandy Hotard. Most of them look like Hollywood fodder to me, with the possible exception of Hotard.

But Ryan Seacrest says there's a game-changer on the way. That's good, because too much of this season has felt like three yards and a cloud of dust so far.

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Getting Jolley in Baton Rouge: Here's a comment from a rejected contestant that our Facebook commenters should like: "Y'all still suck as judges."

OK, here's a weird moment for me. The next contestant, Paul Jolley, won a contest I judged at Beech Bend Park in Bowling Green, Ky., a couple years ago. I wondered if I'd see him here this year (Brandy Neelly is also a Beech Bend contest alum).

His version of Rascal Flatts' I Won't Let Go wins over both the women. Keith Urban tells him he had a "great, crafted vocal performance."

I'll admit it up front: I'm going to pull for this guy. He's a good one.

***

Meet the dark horse: "I'm just bad at communicating. In. A. First. Hand. Sort. Of Way." says Charlie Askew. He's socially awkward, but he seems to be a sweet kid. In music, he's found a way to communicate and express himself.

He's chosen the intro to Queen's Breakthrough, and I don't know if it's the best Queen audition since you-know-who, but couple it with the lines of Nat "King" Cole's Nature Boy that follow, and it just might come close.

Nicki has a nickname for him: "Mystery Man."

"I think there's an opportunity for you to really shake things up in this competition if you stay on the right track," Mariah Carey says. And she's exactly right.

I think we just found this season's dark horse.

Up next, it's Maddie Assel, a 17-year-old whose grandmother recommended her to the Idol judges. So Randy Jackson shows up while she's singing Otis Redding's (Sitting On) The Dock of the Bay at New Orleans' Cafe du Monde.

At the audition, she sings The Beatles' Oh! Darling in a voice reminiscent of Haley Reinhart's. It's got the quiver, and the growl and the jump-into-the-head voice that made Haley so fun to listen to. She tells Keith Urban that she has picked up tricks from Beyonce, Adele and ... yep, there it is: Haley Reinhart.

Maddie's going to have to do something real nice for grandma, 'cause she's going to Hollywood.

***

A leg up on the competition: Even Ryan Seacrest is impressed with the determination of tonight's first contestant, Megan Miller. She was in an accident just before her audition. Her injury has gotten infected, and her doctor wanted to hospitalize her this weekend.

Nothing doing, said Miller.

"I will let it fall off before I miss my American Idol audition," she says. "The leg can wait."

She's going into surgery right after her audition, but now she's going to sing Etta James' Something's Got a Hold on Me. The judges are impressed with the way she turned her circumstances into a positive attribute rather than an excuse. Keith Urban thinks she should have moved around more (he's just kidding).

Hopefully, Miller will be recovered by the time she goes to Hollywood. (And Ryan says she's just fine.)